Sportsbooks Face Smarter Punters During the NFL Season

In a detailed report by the Associated Press, the publication delved into the results of the NFL season so far, and what this has meant for casual and more dedicated sports bettors.

Although there have been several studies to bear out the claim that people who gamble tend to have a harder time managing their finances, there has emerged a breed of sports bettor that is able to deal heavy blows to the bookmakers.

DraftKings and FanDuel Face More Customer-Friendly Betting Seasons

FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, has acknowledged that the latest NFL season has been “customer-friendly,” by which the company means that it has seen customers win more money than the firm had anticipated.

According to the Associated Press, this has cost $390 million to Flutter in November through the end of December, indicating that sports fans have become smarter. The NFL is indeed the most-wagered event in the United States regulated gambling markets, with NFL Parlays hogging the limelight.

Parlays allow players to combine multiple selections or “legs” to create a “super wager” which, in order to be paid out, needs to fulfil every leg. However, the potential payout value also ends up much higher in the end.

The prospect of sharing more money with sports fans has not deterred the leading companies’ zeal for advertising. Both FanDuel and its main rival, DraftKings, have reported more spending on marketing, anticipating even bigger demand for sports betting. DraftKings’s Q4 results also showed that the company is experiencing a bit of a rough spell, registering losses.

Nevertheless, companies have faced headwinds in the sector, particularly in places such as New York where a sports betting tax of 51% has made it hard to maintain the pace of advertising and profitability.

Challenges Mount as Sports Betting Sector’s Hype Increases

DraftKings has experimented with several ways to mitigate the fallout of increasing regulatory pressure and toughening marketing conditions – first by suggesting a surcharge of players who win, and then by piloting a subscription-based odds-boost service designed to incentivize players into spending more and offset some of the increasing costs of doing business.

Sports betting companies are also facing trouble on other fronts, as some customers have gone so far as to allege unfair marketing practices, such as the wanton use of the “free bets” language, which several lawsuits have alleged does not really correspond to the objective reality.